Harvard Law School alumnus Kaveh Sharooz condemned Harvard for firing Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. for representing Harvard Weinstein in an op-ed for Quillette.

Breitbart News reported this week that Harvard Law School had fired Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. for his decision to represent disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by dozens of women of sexual misconduct. On Monday, alumnus Kaveh Sharooz condemned Harvard Law School for their decision to terminate Sullivan Jr. He compared Sullivan Jr.’s representation of Weinstein to John Adams’ representation of British soldiers after the civil war.

The most memorable story I heard during that tour was of a young John Adams, a future U.S. president, successfully defending Thomas Preston, a Captain of a redcoat British regiment who’d been accused of ordering the aforementioned massacre after British soldiers were hit with rocks and snowballs. When the administration of Acting Governor Thomas Hutchinson put Preston and his men on trial, Adams agreed to serve as defence counsel, despite the fact he’d already staked out a reputation as a leading Patriot. Years later, he would declare that “the part I took in defence of [Captain] Preston and the soldiers, procured me anxiety and obloquy enough. It was, however, one of the most gallant, generous, manly and disinterested actions of my whole life, and one of the best pieces of service I ever rendered my country. Judgment of death against those soldiers would have been as foul a stain upon this country as the executions of the Quakers or witches.”

Sharooz highlighted that Sullivan Jr. was the first African-American to serve as a dean of a Harvard undergraduate house. Weinstein isn’t the first high profile criminal defense client that Sullivan Jr. has taken on. In 2015, Sullivan Jr. defended NFL player Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder and sent to prison.

Sullivan was the first African American to serve as faculty dean of a Harvard undergraduate house. He’s also a former president of the Black Law Students Association at Harvard Law School, a winner of HLS’ award for Outstanding Teaching, and the director of the school’s Criminal Justice Institute. Like other famous criminal lawyers, he often takes on notorious clients, including that of ex-NFL football star player Aaron Hernandez, who was convicted of murder in 2015. Any educated person knows that bad people often need good lawyers.